Two projects today. One was everyone 'drawing each other drawing', and these then fitted together to try to show the activity of a drawing studio.The other was collage - drawing, or composing, with bits of found objects that each have their own drawing characteristics (line, tone, texture, shape, pattern etc) - after looking at Kurt Schwitters.​Part One...

This was counter-intuitive drawing: making marks with white on a black surface, looking for the light patches instead of the dark ones. We experimented with lots of different methods - drawing with a rubber; with white chalk on black paper; scraping on black painted card to reveal white underneath; cutting and peeling away the top layer of card; dusting over scraped lines with chalk powder; drawing with a wax candle on black (or white) paper and washing over with white (or black); cutting white paper to stick onto black etc.......

Here there were three 'figures' built of boxes, materials etc and the aim was to produce varied drawings that 'hint at the notion of personages' rather than being too literal. Various exercises first, then everyone followed their own ideas for the finished drawings.click thumbnail to see whole image...

This was indirect drawing - instead of making a mark directly onto paper we were constructing a stencil to make the marks for us. We used mainly charcoal and ink, applied with fingers, toothbrush splatter, brush etc, and had to continually think about whether we were cutting out positive or negative shapes.click image to enlarge...

We looked at Op Art examples, then tried experimenting with these to see how pattern can suggest form, rhythm etc - then how folding , rolling, crumpling the paper distorts a regular pattern. ​Then, almost in reverse, we looked at examples of dazzle camouflage on warships (used to confuse submarines from a distance) and drew a group of patterned cardboard objects to show how the pattern breaks up the form.

We were playing with shapes of card, composing our own subjects. In the first project, each person had three pieces of shaped card and was asked to paint some bold shapes and patterns on them. Then build them into a construction and draw it, concentrating on just the painted shapes rather than the edges of the card.In the second project everyone was given four shapes of card, the idea was to experiment with various ways of composing these together until the most interesting combination was found, then to draw it.

We looked at Cubist still lifes and Patrick Heron's early paintings of the 50s. The objects were moved every 15 minutes and then drawn again, using a different method (left or 'wrong' hand, wax relief, bold charcoal etc) each time to produce multiple, transparent images. Finally, colour was used to identify some shapes or objects - but sometimes respecting the line by not completely filling the space.

The idea here was to delight in the unique surface quality of different objects - and the quick and simple way of making drawings of this is by rubbings (each one takes only a few seconds.) It's a sort of negative image, made by pressure of the charcoal etc on the protruding parts rather than describing shadows.We then selected parts and made a collage - some descriptive and others totally abstract - and one made a drawing from the collage.

We worked from high contrast self portrait photos. The process involved looking at the photo whilst it was upside down throughout the whole drawing - which meant we avoided identifying individual features of the face and concentrated on just drawing patches of dark tone. It was an exercise in drawing what we see rather than what we know - for example, in many cases the face had only one eye..... Subsequent drawings were in just flat black and white shapes, and turning a couple of collaged photos on their side and drawing them as landscape forms.

Again, totally different from the previous sessions of line and tone. Here the aim was to pick out the negative spaces between solid objects in a crazy group and treat them as patches or shapes of tone or colour, rather than using any line. Some people, though, used line just to delineate these patches. It got complicated however as there were often other solid objects in the negative spaces......so some sort of compromise was needed here (but maybe that's what drawing is all about....)

This was all about tone - using light and dark to model form. And preferably without using any line, just looking for patches of tone. Then we used line in cross-hatching - to build up tone by the density of the lines...

The first aim here was to make a LARGE drawing (c 1.4 m square), the secondary aim was to refer to the kitchen objects in front of us.Charcoal and brushes were taped to long sticks to make us draw big, bold marks with the paper on the floor - so too much control, perfect proportion and detail were impossible. And we had to consider the whole sheet right to the edges, using pattern to bind everything together.

We each did quick poses and applied a different approach every time: left-handed, six lines, using the side of the charcoal, heightened contrast etc. Then cut and collaged to compose them into a dynamic group.

We simplified drawing glass by looking at distortion of background, highlights, patches of tone etc. Most of the glass was drawn against a piece of black paper or a line of large text and sometimes the glass was half full of water. And abstract shapes of tone became just as important as illusion.

Most portraits are concerned with patches of colour and tone, locking together to model the form of the face. But here we were doing the opposite, with a number of separate drawings of the individual features of the face in different mediums with different approaches. These were then cut and collaged together in a deliberately dramatic way - and then drawings were done of the collage.

about

This group meets weekly during Autumn and Spring termsfor informal but structured sessions to explore drawing. We have varied projects lasting one or two sessions which aim to develop ideas about the interaction of medium, process, concept and image rather than getting too concerned about specific techniques - there's always lots of experimenting!.